Avian Magnetoreception: Where Quantum Physics and Biology Collide

The 1970’s was an exciting time for those interested in avian navigation and magnetoreception. In the mid 1970’s, it had been scientifically proven that birds utilized the Earth’s magnetic fields as a means for orientation. However, while scientists now knew that birds could detect geomagnetic fields, a major question still remained: how? Several years later, physicist Klaus Schulten would bring the world much closer to an answer with the introduction of the radical pair model. With an extremely firm grasp of quantum mechanics, Schulten was able to make an amazing connection between the magnetically sensitive “radical pairs” and magnetic sensing in organisms (such as birds). The goal of this thesis is to explore this intersection of quantum mechanics and biology first illuminated by Schulten, through providing an in-depth explanation of the radical pair model itself, the quantum mechanical concepts that allow it to exist, the possible biological structures involved, and a small exploration of where the theory stands today, all to better understand the fascinating phenomenon of avian magnetoreception.